I am Will: Part 3
by redfox1303
Summary: Continuation of the 'I am Will' series. Mulder and Scully are trapped trying to stop the vaccine from falling into the wrong hands. William is captured by his grandfather, and comes to realise the terrifying extent of the syndicate's dirty work.
1. Chapter 1

Five years earlier:

Scully rolled her Mercedes neatly into her usual spot on the gravel drive. It was late. She'd had a long shift at work doing overtime as usual. She turned off the engine and sat for a moment in the drivers seat, wonder what state she'd find him in this time.

The door was unlocked when she tried it. For such a paranoid man as Mulder, he was becoming extremely lax on security.

She found him on the coach. At least it made a change from his usual pose; passed out at his desk in amongst a stack of papers. His stubbled beard indicated he'd neglected shaving yet again. He probably hadn't left the house, even though she'd asked him to pick up milk from the store. Any excuse to get him out and about, he was such a recluse nowadays.

She switched on the lamp beside him where an opened packet of Eszopiclone lay; its contents entirely consumed.

"Mulder" She nudged him, half wondering if he was still breathing.

He grumbled in his sleep, adjusting his position so his hand rested haphazardly across his face.

"Wake up!" She kneed his side.

"What?" He snapped, a little more argumentative than he'd quite intended.

"How many did you take?" She held the blister pack to his eye level throwing him a disapproving look.

"Enough… to put me out for a while"

She waited for him to swizzle his body so his legs were dangling off the coach. He sunk his head into his hands willing her to just vanish from existence. At least it would get her off his back for a moment's peace.

"Why?" She pressed, losing patience with his childish behaviour. It wasn't the first time she'd caught him necking handfuls of pills to numb the pain.

"Why d' you _think_? I haven't been sleeping."

"And overdosing on prescription medication is the answer to that, right?" She jabbed sarcastically.

"What can I say? It's handy knowing a doctor who'll prescribe them"

She blew air through her nose, "Unbelievable."

She'd had enough of his shit. It was late and if he wanted to turn borderline hypothermic passed out on the coach it was his decision. She was beyond caring at this point.

She stormed into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, stopping in fury when the fridge was absent of milk.

"One thing. I asked you to do _one_ thing today, Mulder, and you couldn't even manage that." She slammed the refrigerator closed, shaking her dead in disbelief.

He slouched against the doorframe scratching his head, "I forgot" He admitted honestly.

She marched to the bedroom, pulled the small black suitcase from the wardrobe and began stuffing it with clothes.

He followed her in shortly after.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm done." She said bluntly.

"You're done?" He repeated blankly.

"Yes, Mulder. I'm done. I can't live like this anymore. I can't watch you slowly destroy yourself!"

She slammed the lid of the case and zipped it closed, turning on her heel with the bag in tow. Mulder followed like a lost puppy, bordering on panic.

"Where are you going?" He called when she bleeped the car open.

"Anywhere but here."

She banged the car door shut and the engine rumbled awake. She was pulling out of the driveway in autopilot, refusing to look in the rear-view mirror she knew that his perplexed expression as he stood in the porch watching her leave would only infuriate her further.

….

Scully felt for the vaccine stuffed deep inside her pocket. She moved it around her hands, reminding herself it was still there and it was safe. A small comfort in an otherwise disturbing situation.

The hinges were beginning to shake loose on the steel doors, and the bodged welding on the barricades was starting to give. It wouldn't be long before they refused to hold out.

A screw fell from one of the top fixtures and rolled across the floor coming to a stop by their feet. No one spoke, just kept focus on their failing defences and what lay behind it.

Just as they were convinced that one final blow would have hundreds of greys cascading in on them, it ceased, leaving with it a haunting silence. Given up when they were so close, it made no sense. Scully gulped, a shimmer of sweat now running down her brow. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

In the tiniest gap above the doorframe three elongated fingers crept through the slit, feeling carefully around for the bolted chains. It wrapped its clawed extremities over the lock, feeling for it, working it all out. They could have broken the door down in one last blow but they didn't, they wanted to toy with the humans inside, like mice trapped in a maze.

Skinner pulled the safety off of his shotgun, ever so slowly and with delicate movements he rose it into position, getting as close to the alien as he dared, and aimed directly at the creature's hand.

He hesitated, and everyone quickly realised why. If he were to shed the creature's blood in a confined area such as this it could infect everyone in the room in less than a minute.

"Smartass motherfuckers" Morgan breathed, "…What do we do?"

No one offered an answer.

The sound of gunfire resonated about the room and it took a while for Scully to realise that no one had fired a weapon. It was coming from outside. Then another, and another, until someone appeared to be scattering shells left right and centre right outside the doors. There were hideous cries resonating from the creatures as bullets rebounded from wall to wall taking out dozens of greys in its wake.

It fell silent once more and the five of them watched as the long fingers of the creature drooped lifelessly before falling along with its body back through the other side, resting in a heap on the floor.

"Was that our guys?" On of the technicians asked apprehensively, "…Do you think it was the team protecting unit sixteen, did they come up to help?"

Skinner shook his head, "No. We don't have weapons capable of that. Those sounded…bigger, more advanced"

Scully turned to her former boss, "I don't like this"

The technician approached the door and pressed her ear against the flat surface to listen, "Sounds…mechanical"

There was a bleeping, a countdown that appeared to be placed on the far side of the door.

"Uh-oh"

"Move!" Scully yelled, wrestling the woman to the floor just in time for the entire door to be blasted open and the room filled with smoke.

They coughed against the dusty debris that quickly filled the enclosed space. Half shielding her eyes from the cloud, Scully squinted up at the intruders. Instead of the looming, gothic figures she anticipated finding, a group of men in black stood over them. They looked casual, unnervingly so.

"Who are you people?!" Skinner yelled through the rubble.

They never responded.

Scully watched as one by one they were hoisted to their feet; the emotionless figures restraining a rebellious Skinner with surprising ease. One of the men gripped her arm tight and pulled her outside along with the others.

"Why are you doing this?!" She cried, still uncertain whether to be thankful or fearful.

Someone had Mulder. They heaved him over their shoulder as though he were a ragdoll, a six-foot-two unconscious ragdoll. There was only one explanation for it and she hated to admit it.

"They're bounty's!" Scully declared, deciding it best to be compliant with whatever the bastards had in store for them.

She visualised the vaccine in her pocket, hoping she could keep it from them long enough to figure out how to escape this mess. But they knew exactly where to find it, exactly what they were looking for. She didn't bother to put up a fight. A broken arm would render her even more useless, and either way they'd get what they wanted.


	2. Chapter 2

William paced the long white hallways side by side with the elderly man. A lit cigarette in hand he puffed away contently. He should have been frail for his age; surely pushing eighty, but William dared not cross him. This man had power beyond conceivability; it would have been foolish to test him on that.

The Krycek man wasn't far behind them, he seemed to hover about. He'd worked for the old man before, they clearly had history, but Krycek looked untrusting of him nonetheless. Their footsteps echoed as they moved.

"Do you know where you are right now?" The man puffed a cloud of smoke through his teeth.

"Alcor, Arizona" Will replied bluntly.

"Correct. Do you know why you are here?"

"You pay your goons a decent enough wage to warrant kidnapping a minor and driving him two thousand miles across state"

The man smirked, "You're here, William, because every moment in your life since birth has been leading up to this point in time. This very conversation even, was entirely fated to occur. And what happens next…" He stopped to take another drag of the cigarette, "…Well, inevitably ends in tragedy for one or the other"

The old man blew smoke in his direction and William cringed as the nicotine filled his nose.

"One word, old man. 'Emphysema'. It's what's going to be written in large letters on your death certificate. That is if someone else doesn't put you in the ground first. I'm guessing you have a handful of enemies… my father's clearly on that list"

The cigarette man grinned sinisterly, "You're scared. I can feel the fear you hold inside you." He held his palm up to a key panel and it clicked in acceptance, "Don't be. Not yet anyway, there's plenty of time to come where fear will be very much warranted"

Krycek seemed to leave them, disappearing when they entered the room. It was freezing again, just like the last. William would have asked for a jacket if he didn't despise the man so greatly. They approached an outlined circle in the floor. The cigarette man pushed another button and something rose up from it, a display unit of sorts.

It was like looking through murky water, but there was a definite figure beneath, hidden and encased in ice. William squinted his eyes. It was a young girl, barely in her early teens.

"Recognise her? She looks a little like you don't you think? …Or perhaps more so like her brother"

"Samantha" William breathed in realisation, "…This is Samantha…"

"You know of her. I should have guessed Mulder would have drivelled about his long lost abducted sister"

"What have you done to her?" Will placed his hand flat against the icy surface in shock.

"Alcor is the world's leading company in cryogenics, the 'Alcor Life Extension Foundation' has been bringing people back from the dead for the past forty years"

"That's science fiction" William argued.

"Glad to see a little of the sceptical Agent Scully worked it's way into your genome too"

William ignored him, "Is… is she alive?"

"She's not dead, if that's what you're asking"

The man pressed his cigarette bud against the control panel, stubbing it out until ash remnants littered the floor.

"Frozen in time well into her youth. Pity she didn't get to experience life past the tender age of fourteen, but alas, the new world will be hers for the taking"

Will threw the man a confused look, wondering what on earth he could be talking about.

"The tests on Samantha when she was just a child were to make her invincible, a sort of super-human, an alien-human hybrid destined to rule the new world leading the alien race"

"You engineered her to be a monster"

"I created her to rule over all of us" The man corrected.

"Standing for which side?"

"Sides don't matter. There is only one way this war ends"

William gazed back at the young girl before him. He contemplated how she must have suffered through vigorous testing. Procedure after tortured procedure all in the name of a sick science.

"I brought you here because this is what you are going to help me with. You are going to bring her back to life, resurrect her if you will…"

William scrunched up his face, "Don't you have machines to do that for you?"

"For the average human, yes, absolutely. But a being as powerful as her requires a little more of a kick-start. You need 'life' transference of one person to another. I've only seen it done twice. Once by my hand and once by yours…"

"So why don't you do it yourself?"

"In order for it to work she would inherit your 'abilities', absorb them in a way"

"Good, because I don't want them, I never wanted any of this"

"So this is my deal, my exchange; your abilities for your brother and friend. It's a fair deal, don't you think?"

"I don't make deals with psychopaths. Whatever you're doing is dangerous. I'm sure of it…"

"I wondered if you might respond in such a way. Let me show you something else, something that may serve to sway your decision"

William shadowed the cigarette man as he exited the room and walked across to another door. He didn't like where this was going, and the fear that he was trying desperately to hide was creeping back up on him with every step closer to the room.

"Your brother, and the girl."

William entered the room, it was barely lit, with tubes and tanks in every corner, all hooked up to a number of clear cylinders. Peaking behind the first container he reached was the stunned expression of Rachel, naked and suspended in a strange liquid substance.

"Rachel" He whispered.

Two cylinders down and there was the body of his brother, frozen in animation looking equality as traumatised.

"They're kept cool to slow the damage the virus is doing to their systems. But however low the temperature remains it cannot stop the spread entirely. They'll die… soon enough"

"Let them go!" Will cried, turning on the man in rage, but he was stopped in an instant, the man's slender fingers wrapped tight around his neck, crushing his windpipe.

It was unbelievable strength, a power no man his age could ever have held. Power of a madman fuelled with hate and blackened with greed.

Will's feet were no longer touching the floor as he gasped for air. The man released him and Will staggered on the spot.

"Bastard." He panted.

The figure dragged him by the scruff of his shirt forcing his face against Rachel's cylinder.

"You want to see her pretty little face again, you do as I say. By my watch she has less than twelve hours before no matter of vaccine can save her. The same goes for your dear brother. Now you're going to help me, or you're going to watch them die, and then still do for me what I want"


	3. Chapter 3

Five years earlier:

He feared sleep because it was in his dreams that the monsters got to him worst.

At least awake he had some element of control, some way of distracting himself and diverting his thoughts elsewhere. This wasn't possible in sleep. Every time he closed his eyes inevitably he'd end up being hurtled back into punitive consciousness, dripping with sweat, parched of breath, and shaking uncontrollably.

When she was beside him in bed she'd pretend to have not been disturbed. She did it out of dignity. Too many times she'd darted awake to the sounds of his hysteria, she'd fuss over him, trying to calm him down. He never appreciated the gesture. He didn't need her sympathy. They'd both been through the exact same traumas; just she had better coping strategies, better control. He admired her for that, the voice of reason when madness engulfed them.

And so now, when he woke up tangled in the sheets, tears rolling down his face and feeling frantically for the surgical slices all across his abdomen that had long since healed, she ignored him. She would lie beside him, knowing he was watching the ceiling, too terrified to close his eyes again, or he'd get up, get a drink, take some drugs, and throw himself into work at 3am. It had become routine now.

He slouched at the office desk staring at the same bit of wall he'd been watching for the past half an hour. There was a paint splodge on the plaster that was raised up ever so slightly so it was not flush with the rest of the wall. He pondered if it were Scully or himself that had made the error when redecorating. It must have been his doing; Scully was far too precise for such mistakes. Perhaps it was dampness getting in from somewhere?

He pulled himself up out of the chair with legs that had gone numb with the length of time he'd been sat one tucked under him. He staggered to the wall, taking it upon himself to investigate. On tiptoes he pressed his face up close for better inspection. It wasn't damp it was definitely paint. He searched the office for something to scrape it with, the need to rectify the atrocity now completely overpowering.

Using the base of a stapler, he carefully carved the offending paint from the wall, brushing it smooth with the palm of his hand. Better, he decided, standing back to admire his handy work. There was now a very obvious white patch of exposed paint protruding from beneath the blue wall.

He returned to his seat; the disapproving look of Samantha's picture judging him as he lent back in the wheely chair.

"Don't…" He breathed, turning the picture frame around before realising he was arguing with a photograph.

Hours later he'd found himself wondering from room to room trying desperately to ward off the sleep deprivation. He needed to sleep, there was no doubt about it, but the thought of returning to the ship, undergoing the test, or worst, witnessing his beloved Scully murdered before him by bloodthirsty extra-terrestrials, was distressing enough to warrant ignoring his body's protests.

He needed something to put him out so deeply that he wouldn't be able to dream, he decided. Scully would have drugs; she was always well stocked with them. Since going into hiding he'd forged a new identity, one that he'd rather use sparsely. He'd never bothered registering with a physician or even a dentist, instead preferring to keep his fake identity out of the public domain. When the charges were dropped after their assistance on a murder case, Mulder still couldn't shake the habit and remained in hiding. The reality was that he needed help, professional help, and he was beyond asking Scully, how could he when the things that were plaguing him were largely about her.

He rummaged in the medicine cabinet and pulled out a pack of sleeping pills. Without bothering to read the label, he tossed a number into his mouth; dry swallowed them and made a face of disgust. That'll do the job, he thought to himself collapsing onto the coach in a heap.

He awoke abruptly to the woman he loved standing over him, wearing the acquainted expression of a pissed-off redhead. It was the look that made his testicles shrivel as he quickly tried to remember why he was in trouble this time. She obviously wanted some kind of a response as she stood, hands on hips waiting for him to do or say something.

Lethargically, he sat up and run his hands through his hair, scratching, and trying to resist the urge to vomit all over the upholstery rug. The room was spinning and so was Scully as he cooperated with her interrogation, not really paying attention to the responses he was delivering.

When she packed her bags, he panicked. He wanted to grab her by the wrists and tell her she couldn't go, she couldn't leave him, he would be lost without her, he needed her. But he didn't. He could never hurt this woman, this beautiful woman that he'd shared his life with, that he loved, conceived a child with, he'd lay his life on the line for her. She was the mother of his son, the light in his dark, and the only person that had ever known him, really known him. And she was about to walk out of his life.

He stood in the doorframe watching the Mercedes roll out of the driveway and felt his stomach clench, his heart physically aching as it dawned upon him that for the first time in over twenty years he was well and truly alone.

"Please don't leave me…" The words fell out of his mouth as the taillights disappeared beyond the trees into the dark night.

He moved quicker than he'd moved in months, barely making it to the bathroom and threw up copious amounts of nothing into the toilet bowl.

He awoke in the morning, face pressed against the cold tiled bathroom floor. He was alone and he had nothing. He splashed his face with water from the faucet and looked back at the haggard reflection of himself. He hadn't really seen himself in months and the man staring back scared him. A mop of unruly brown hair, his eyes sunken and his body slim beneath week-old stubble.

He turned away quickly. They'd be plenty of time for self-loathing. Right now, he had to make a delivery. Today was an important day. Today was his son's tenth birthday.

….

He came around to the sound of a light bulb flickering on its last surge of life. The space was cold and grey, a prison of four concrete walls. He sensed Scully sat beside him; her knees drawn up to her as she huddled with her head buried wishing she were anywhere else. The others were there too, either sat down or pacing the ten by ten metre length of the room. This was different, however, a new place from the last, and Mulder couldn't piece together how they'd ended up here.

He coughed and rolled onto his side pushing himself up. He dared not stand but instead threw Scully a quizzical look, hoping she'd catch it in the poor lighting.

"Welcome back" She responded flatly.

"Where are we?" He asked, spinning around and catching Skinner's wary gaze.

"We're not sure…"

"What happened?"

No one else offered an explanation. No one could begin to explain how they'd come to be in this place, how they'd survived the attack, or how they'd lost the vaccine to the bounty's.

When he got no reply, he pressed for the all-important cure, knowing already that they'd somehow lost it amongst the chaotic duration of his absence.

Scully made a face, shaking her head slowly. It was the conformation he'd dreaded. He swore and let himself sink back to the floor and pressed his face against the hard surface.

They were going to die in this place.


	4. Chapter 4

Light poured into the room, blinding them as the figure of a bounty appeared in the doorway. He lingered momentarily scanning the bodies huddled on the floor before focusing on her.

"You" the bounty pointed, "… come with me"

Scully stared him down, refusing to move a muscle.

"Come now without protest, or I shall drag you out by that pretty little cross of yours around your neck"

She could feel both Mulder and Skinner flinch beside her.

Hesitantly, she rose to her feet and followed the bounty out of their prison. Mulder made to stand as she passed him but she waved him away knowing full well any attempt to stop these beings would be futile.

The bounty locked the door behind them by simply waving an arm across a control panel. She followed him down a stretch of corridor with what appeared to be wires running parallel overhead, but they were unlike any electrical rigging she was familiar with.

"Where have you taken us?" She asked, trying to hide the anxiety in her voice.

The bounty chose not to acknowledge her question. If it were indeed their ship, as she suspected, it bore no resemblance to any craft in a traditional sci-fi sense. It was unlike anything the mainstream media had portrayed as E.T's terra firma. It was minimalist, perhaps even prehistoric in design.

They stopped in a room, much larger to the one they'd been held captive in. It was dark and dreary but she could make out the figures of five more bounty's, all identical in appearance stood in an arch, and all watching her every move.

Scully came to a halt before them, the uneven surface cold beneath her shoeless feet as she waited for one of them to communicate. When they said nothing, she dared challenge them.

"Are you going to kill us?"

One of them responded with a simple, "No".

It was hard to figure out which of them had spoken.

"Then why am I here?"

"To help us."

Scully noticed the small glass container resting in one of the bounty's grip and recognised it immediately as the cure. They watched her attention fall to it, as it quickly became the most important article in the room.

"After all these years, our every encounter, I still have no idea who you are, your motives, even which side you are on in this whole thing…" The words tumbled from her lips before she'd even comprehended what she was saying, "…you spineless fuckers."

For a moment she wondered if they might kill her right there and then, but the insult seemed not to deter them in the slightest.

"That's what you're after, that's what you want…" She pointed towards the vial in the bounty's hand, "It's everything, it determines whether or not we survive this war, it's our only hope of standing a chance against them."

She wasn't sure where she was going with this but anger seemed to build inside of her.

"This is but a drop in the ocean, inconsequential to the outcome of your planet. You think this will save you all? You have no idea."

Scully shook her head in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"Finding a cure doesn't matter. It never did. Destroy it or hand it over to you, it's irrelevant. If we'd thought it would make the slightest of difference we'd have developed one far sooner. This war ends only one way, and that's by the hand of a single human."

The head bounty approached her and carefully offered up the vial. She took it slowly, maintaining quizzical eye contact in case it was some sick game.

"What 'single human' would hold that power?" She questioned, relaxing the antidote into her clammy hands.

"The one they call 'Archos'. A human in blood but far more powerful than anything earth has ever encountered. A human that shares your beloved partner's genetics"

"So this person shares Mulder's genetics but not my own…?" She pondered, vaguely concerned with William's recently discovered 'abilities'.

"No, not yours. Although your son plays a huge part in this, in fact, he is the one that will lead us to Archos"

"I don't understand, and I don't trust you people"

"It doesn't matter if you do or don't, you cannot help us find him, but he can… and you're going to make him locate the boy for us."

A hatch door opened to reveal two more bounty's dragging in a fighting Mulder.

Mulder was flung on the hard floor before her. She made to help him up but the bounty's blocked her path.

"We don't know where William is, none of us do including Mulder." She protested.

The head bounty crouched to Mulder's level, taking his jaw in his large hands and locking his face into his own.

"True, but we can change that, Mulder can find his son" He studied Mulder's face, as though explaining the revelation to Mulder himself, "We are aware of a rather recent incident, one involving an energy transference from the boy to yourself…"

Mulder looked like he wanted to make a quip remark but restrained himself.

A different hatch unlocked and presented yet another room. Scully barely reacted to the metallic carved table but Mulder seemed deeply affected by it, strangely so, as if it brought back terrible memories.

"Look familiar?" The bounty asked the quivering man beneath him.

Suddenly the realisation hit her; the table was where Mulder had been held captive during his abduction. She'd seen it before, in her nightmares about him stuck in that dreadful place.

Mulder's eyes widened as he tried to scramble away from the horrifically familiar scene.

"We've seen inside your head before. We're going to do it again, and you're going to tell us what we need to know"

Mulder somehow found his cool, and cleared his throat, "What makes you think I'm going to volunteer myself for your medieval torture methods? It didn't exactly sit well the first time"

"We'll find what we're looking for, voluntarily or not, of course the latter is extremely more time consuming, and I'm afraid Agent Mulder, time is of the essence here"

"You people have fought your way into my psych before and I don't remember it being a whole barrel of laughs" Mulder looked across at her, searching for assurance somewhere, "…What do you want with our son?"


	5. Chapter 5

"If I do as you ask, how do I know you'll keep up your end of the bargain?"

The smoking man looked almost offended at such lack of trust and he took another drag of his Morley's, "You have my word."

"That means nothing to me" William shook his head, "…I want some insurance"

The old man raised an eyebrow to the proposition, he'd humour the boy just this once, "Go on".

"…Save both of them right now, get them out of those tanks, release them and I'm yours, I'll do whatever you ask"

Beads of condensation were forming on the display cisterns with every word spoken. It was becoming impossible to tell whether the clouds of smoke were from the cigarette or his own exhale.

"One, and only one. You may choose either your brother or the girl" He finally spoke.

William could feel his fingers beginning to ache in the bitter cold temperatures of the cooling facility. It was making it difficult to concentrate but he couldn't let it go to his head, not now. He flexed his fingers and tried to ignore his rapidly declining core temperature. One was better than none.

"You have ten seconds to decide," The man warned.

William tried to be logical about it. Rachel had been exposed for longer, but only by a matter of hours, and she was larger than Alex so perhaps the virus would be slower to take control. Then again, Alex had more time to play with but a smaller body could mean a faster onset of symptoms. Rachel would prove handier in helping get all of them out of there if he was successful in waking her. His mind flooded with possible outcomes.

"Rachel." The words escaped, and he cleared his throat for clarification, "I want you to release Rachel, now. She's been exposed for the longest time."

"As you wish"

The smoking man signalled two personnel and they immediately set to work warming Rachel's paralysed figure. From his coat pocket he removed a small vial and syringe and offered it to Will.

"A weak vaccine, nowhere near as effective as your mothers but it should certainly delay the process. I'd wait until she's no longer hypothermic before you try and administer that, it'll work a lot better"

Will resisted the urge to knee the old man for what it was worth.

"Now, in exchange for your brother…"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I wish to test you first. Holding power is one thing, harnessing it and ensuring that it is channelled by the correct means is another"

….

Mulder shifted himself onto his knees as Scully crouched beside him.

"I don't like this, Scully. I don't trust them"

Her expression didn't read well, almost as if she consented to what would surly come.

"They want us to find him so they can kill him" He argued.

"No, it's not like that, he's being used for something, or he needs to be. He's a tool in helping win this war"

"But win it for which side exactly?"

When she didn't know how to answer, Mulders gaze fell on the towering figures surrounding them and offering no explanation. There seemed no easy way out. He knew it all too well as he'd spent the best part of six months trying to escape the place. Every waking moment of lucidity was spent searching for release.

"I think we should trust them" Scully suggested.

Mulder shook his head, "No, we can't. I won't. They're in on it together, them and the smoking son of a bitch…"

Scully's hands fell to his head as she tried desperately to gain both his attention and trust. Their eyes met and he couldn't bear turn away from her again.

"The smoking man already has him hidden, he's already in more danger than we know. We have to find our boy or we have zero chance of helping him, regardless of these people and their intentions"

It made sense; she always made sense though he'd never give her too much credit for it.

Mulder took a moment before nodding slowly, wondering if he were about to regret his complacency, "Okay, lets do this."

The moment the wires were connected to his forehead and the bounty's hovering over him, he began to question his decision. An intense wave of apprehension washed over him as his form fell fixed into the all too acquainted chair.

"How do I find him? How does this thing work?" Mulder asked, more to Scully than those working on him.

One of the bounty's answered for her.

"Try to talk to him, ask him a question, search for him with an open mind. Don't think about the mechanics of it, just speak to him and he'll respond, eventually"

"This doesn't make any sense"

Before he had a chance to argue a flash of white and searing pain caught him off guard. He was floating through empty space, lost in a mind that was not just his own. He felt nothing and everything all at once. If it was a high it was a pretty intense one, and for a second he was fairly certain narcotics and hallucinogenics had something to do with the sensation though he couldn't recall administration of them.

He called out her name into the nothingness but could barely make out his own words; she was gone from this place, absent from the stage. He needed to find William; he had to at least try to contact him.

"Where are you?" He yelled into the emptiness, "Help me find you…"

He glanced down at his hands and was surprised when he saw them, covered in blood of unknown origin. He must have found a conduit to the real world because in response to his shock she spoke out to him, uttering a few minor words.

"Find him. Find William"

I'm trying, he thought, frustrated with the lack of direction to his feeble attempts.

"William" He repeated over and over in his mind, trying to ground himself, "William, I'm trying to help you. Let me find you…"

"Dad."

His consciousness spun around, searching for his son's voice than had no presence. There was no one in sight.

"William!" He yelled, but the response became ever more distant.

From the other side, Scully watched in dread as her partner writhed in fear. The bounty's did nothing but study him calmly, making no attempt to ease the process. She called out to Mulder and a bounty's made to remove her from the room. She repeated his name again and his breathing seemed to slow.

"Leave her" Another bounty ordered his comrade and gestured her to come closer, "Talk to him, focus him"

"Mulder" She whispered in his ear and held his hand in hers wondering if he'd really hear her or feel her existence.

"What do you see?" She encouraged.

Mulder flinched beneath her.

"Find him, talk to him"

He mumbled an inaudible response. She leaned her ear closer to his voice and concentrated.

"Cold" He slurred, "Letters, in red"

"What letters, words?"

The bounty's stood motionless surveying the two of them.

"Mulder, what do the words say?"

He muttered again incoherently.

"Well?" One of the bounty's pressed, "What is he saying?"

"I think, 'Alcor' but I can't be sure..."

All at once the bouty's made to leave, storming out of the room, location to hand they had a new plan set.

"Hey, wait!"

Scully was left alone with a hallucinating Mulder, uncertain of how long the affects would take to wear off, or even how they'd find their way back to Skinner and the rest of the Arctic base team. Her stomach knotted. What if they'd lead them right to William and they weren't about to play nice? She feared she'd settled her son's fate and could do nothing but pray they'd reach him alive.


	6. Chapter 6

"Useless!" The old man ranted to himself.

"I'm trying!"

"Not hard enough."

William clenched his fists in frustration.

"It's not like I can summon this thing up on command. I don't even know how it happened the first time. I just kind of lost control... I was scared." Will argued.

"Scared?" The man sniggered, "If it's fear we need to recreate, that can certainly be arranged."

They stood over the steel table, a cold and lifeless body lay before them. The man's identity was uncertain, identifiable only by the tag that hung loosely from his big toe, a corpse but not a person.

"My Dad, when I brought him back he'd only just slipped away, I could reach him fairly easily. This body has been frozen for years." William protested.

The old man glanced across to Krycek, who had been stood in the door frame observing them both, clearly sceptical of his superior's ambitions.

"Fine." The cigarette man stormed out of the room without another word.

Krycek approached William, grabbing him by his jacket and dragging him out after the old man.

"Where are we going?" Will asked, but his questions were ignored.

The took an elevator down to a below ground level. The shiny marbled surfaces seemed to fade the lower they descended into the depths of the complex until finally they stopped. The marble had been completely replaced with the bare red rock of the earth, chiselled away to accommodate the elevator shaft.

The air was still chilled but there was more moisture, a lingering smell that caught unpleasantly in the back of his throat. It was a smell of death and decomposition.

Krycek swiped a card against a keypad. He no longer bothered fighting William, it was clear he dare not resist them in such a terrifying place. A screen automatically lifted revealing a room containing one of the monsters. Will jumped in surprise as the creature turned towards them, sniffing the air, eyes locking on to the three humans imposing on it's space. It suddenly threw itself in their direction only to slam against the plane glass that separated them, glass that William had only just noticed.

William swallowed hard, thankful that the glass looked like it would hold.

He cleared his throat, "You're keeping them locked up down here? Why?"

"To study them, of course."

William shook his head in disbelief.

"Beautiful creatures, aren't they..." The old man mused, sparking his lighter and taking a long inhale of nicotine.

He took his time blowing the smoke through his teeth, looking the monster right in the eyes, studying it. Without warning, his hand fell on the panel, pressing down hard on one of the buttons. A siren screeched to attention as the clear glass descended into the ground.

"What are you doing?!" William cried, as the monster dragged itself over the rapidly disappearing protective glass, it's long claws scrambling to reach them.

William threw his hands over his face, ducking just in time to hear the two rounds of gunfire and the final gasps that left the creatures lungs. When he peeled his arms away Krycek was stood, gun in hand staring blankly at the dead body before them. The old man continued to casually blow smoke through his teeth.

"There's your fresh kill..." The man gestured, "...Now bring him back."

The monster twitched on the concrete ground, it's blackened blood pooling towards their feet.

A uniformed man appeared in the doorway and both Krycek and the Cigarette man looked annoyed at his presence.

"Sir, we have a situation."

What followed was a blur of confusion. The complex rumbled, a quake of great magnitude starting from the surface level and reaching all the way down to find them. Red warning lights flashed and all three gentlemen made a break for the elevator. William didn't need to wait to be invited.

When they reached the surface levels there were more uniformed employees running to attention to deal with the threat. The Cigarette man's concern seemed to only fall on Samantha, his project and life's work, his insurance of survival.

At first William assumed the attack was from the colonist, having discovered the old man was keeping their young in the depths of the building. His suspicions quickly changed when dozens of heavily built men entered the complex. William could only liken them to characters from some Terminator movie. What confused him further was how similar they all appeared to be, identical even.

Gunfire erupted, explosions from every direction and once again William found himself caught in the middle of it. Debris flicked up narrowly missing his eye. He launched himself aside as a stray bullet soared past his shoulder, and came to rest curled in a ball on the ground. The familiar sensation of warm liquid trickled down the side of his face and he knew he was bleeding from something.

"William!" A voice cried in the haze of the attack.

He allowed himself to raise his head to search among the thick cloud of dust. Across the room, Skinner came into visibility. His glasses had been knocked astray as he huddled close to the ground for safety.

"William!" He repeated, yelling against the heavy fire, "...Don't move!"

Like he could even if he wanted to. He was trapped from almost every direction and had no idea as to who was friend or foe, it was perhaps safer to assume the worst of both parties.

Something grabbed him from behind, encasing his arms. William struggled wildly in panic.

"I've got you." It was safe, he was safe.

He turned his head, barely enough to see his mothers eyes reflecting back at him.

"Mom" He sobbed, grabbing at her sweater overwhelmed with relief.

His walls were crumbling, the weeks of fighting to be brave, to be the strong one had fallen all at once. He was pretending to be some great leader, a warrior for humanity, but beneath it all lay the brutal truth that he was a boy who needed his family, and particularly his mother.

"Come on." She ordered, allowing them both a split second of tenderness before the adrenaline kicked back in. They needed to get out of there.

She hauled him to his feet with a strength that was deceiving for her slight frame. On autopilot she seemed to navigate them through the gunfire, ducking and diving out of harms way. Regardless of the fact that she was in her forties, her training and years in the field as an agent were coming into play. So slickly she fell back into the role, both mother and fighter.

His father came into vision with Skinner tailing close behind. They'd come with no weapons in sight, instead relying on brute force to allow them to pass through the madness. It seemed to keep them wary.

"This way!" Scully lead them down a sharp turn, running so fast their footsteps echoed the long stretch of corridor.

William daren't look back, none of them did. They weren't sure where they were heading or what they were anticipating doing when they reached this undetermined place. All they knew was that back in the firing line would ensure an untimely death.

A side door opened on them and a handful of guards lunged themselves out, narrowly missing Scully. Skinner was not so lucky. Two of them tackled him to the ground, pulling batons from their waist belts. Mulder skidded to a halt and wrestled one of the men to the ground.

Both William and Scully slowed, praying they'd prevail. When more guards approached the scene, Scully took her cue, turning on the spot she approached the bundle of entangled limbs and swinging fists and proceeded to kick the shit out of all four uniformed men, neither of whom had anticipated the precision of a boot to the face.

Within minutes, three of the guards were unconscious on the floor. Skinner swung a final blow to the jaw of the remaining man who had Mulder writhing on the floor in a headlock. The man let go immediately falling limply in a puddle along with the others.

"Alright?" Scully asked completely unfazed, as both Mulder and Skinner panted and tried to haul themselves to their feet.

William resisted the urge to call his mother a badass.

"Let's go." She commanded.

The four of them skidded to a halt as a load of uniformed men started running in their direction. They hesitated only for a moment before realising the fear in their eyes and what was following quickly behind them, taking them down one by one in the most brutalist of attacks.

"What the...?" Skinner trailed.

"They broke the containment downstairs, the creatures got out!" William blurted as the realisation kicked in, "...This way!"

He fell again a door to his left, thanking God when it swung open co-operatively. Either they were lucky enough to find one of the only free access rooms of the building or the locking systems were failing all over the complex. Either way, they filtered in, quickly barricading the door behind them. The helpless cries and frantic scratching at the door from the guards who were less lucky eventually diminished.

"There, that's our way out." Skinner paced to the other side of the room, "This'll take us right up to the roof" He announced scanning the diagram above the door frame.

As they made to follow, the airlock door slammed down heavily before them. All parties jumped out of its way but as the room settled William discovered they'd not been so lucky.

"Scully!" His father yelled beside him, "Scully!" He repeated slamming his fists against the wall.

"Wait! I know what to do." William dashed to the control panel and found the button he'd seen the old man press earlier on one of the tanks downstairs.

The steel door complied with the notion, withdrawing once more to reveal a rather startled looking Scully. Though they weren't out of the woods yet. The glass still separated them as Scully banged vigorously against it.

"Hang on, Mom, we're going to get you out" William assured, rushing back to the control panel and typing in the commands.

The computer flashed back a warning, 'contamination in progress, access denied'.

"Shit." Skinner breathed.

"Can we override it?" William asked, but both Skinner and Mulder looked as blankly as he did.

"They're outside." Scully's hazy voice came from behind the glass, "I can hear them trying to break through!"

William typed feverishly into the control panel only to have the red glow of its refusal flash right back at him.

Scully searched her surroundings, there was no panel from her side, nothing to offer a glimmer of hope.

"Hurry up." Scully pleaded as the steel doors began to flex and bend.

The red lights beeped once more, "I can't" William shook his head, his father looking back at him in desperation, "...It won't let me, I can't..."

Mulder slammed his fists against the glass until blood trickled down his wrist. He turned frantically searching for something heavy, deciding on a fire extinguisher and proceeded to whack it hard against the surface.

"Mulder." She spoke, unnervingly calm.

He continued with the extinguisher, sweating and breathing heavily with each heave.

"Mulder." She called him again and this time he let the cylinder drop to the floor in exhaustion.

"You need to go." She said simply.

"No. I can get you out." He shook his head, the words falling from his lips as he pleaded her not to give up, "I can get you out."

The foundations lurched jolting the water sprinklers in to action. The cold trickle of spray falling down on them as the warning sirens increased in ferocity.

The computer equipment crackled and sparked in protest as it became sodden from the droplets. Mulder flicked his damp fringe out of his face as his eyes darted around for any other options, any answer to their dilemma.

"Fox!" She yelled and it stopped him in his tracks. William had never heard her use his proper name, nor anyone for that matter.

"Please." She begged, a tear rolling down her cheek, "…you need to go."

It was at that moment that William realised she was done, she was admitting defeat, all she cared about was the safety of the ones she loved.

"Mom!" The words escaped him as he lunged for the glass, palms pressed firmly against the invisible barricade. This couldn't be the end, this couldn't be her end.

"It's okay." She was talking to him directly now, assuring him that she'd accepted her fate, "It's alright, William."

"No!" He argued.

"I love you."

The tech equipment blew and a fireball erupted in the far corner.

"Skinner, get him out of here!" Mulder ordered.

William felt the large hands of his uncle encase him, trying to pull him towards the safety of the roof escape. Will resisted, fighting back against the towering man. Mulder had picked up the fire extinguisher again and was trying even harder but his attempts failed to even scratch the surface. The creatures on the other side were working much faster, and a claw had emerged it's way through a fast developing crack.

Skinner fought hard to pull his friends son away from the scene. He did not need to witness his mother being brutally ripped apart by these monsters. He didn't need to see his father breaking down at the sight of it either. He couldn't help the tears rolling down his cheek. In the twenty years he'd known these unique individuals he'd never seen this coming, never truly prepared himself for the inevitable death of one or both of them. Their son was to become an orphan. When they'd found Mulder in the woods it had destroyed him but deep down he knew it couldn't really be the end. This however, this was different, this was happening and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

He watched as Scully scrambled on the floor to a dead guard, finding his weapon and checking the rounds. From the look on her face it was not enough, not nearly enough for what was on the other side of those doors.

"William, we gotta go." Skinner tried to calm the boy down.

William was having none of it. Skinner was only able to move him ever so slightly. It made no sense, the size at which he was and the weight advantage that he had against a fifteen year old boy, he should have been able to pick him up and fireman carry him over his shoulder, but something stopped him, something acted like a dead weight anchoring William to the spot.

"William!" Skinner repeated.

The steel doors gave way, and almost in slow motion the creatures lurched their way through, tearing over one another to reach the red headed human trapped within. Scully aimed the weapon at the first few that made it in, dropping them like flies one after another with a swift and accurate bulletin to the head.

Her ammunition was gone, all rounds spent, as she let the gun drop from her grasp and skitter across the floor.

As the remaining monsters approached, sizing the woman before them up, Skinner couldn't help but feel strange, a bizarre feeling dwelling from the pit of his stomach. Something was about to happen, something incredible.


	7. Chapter 7

It was only then that he noticed tiny flakes in the air, globules of water suspended in animation, defying gravity altogether. The flickering lights burst into full brightness, humming loudly as they reached full capacity.

William's skin burned like fire and Skinner leapt off of him, almost tripping backwards in disbelief. He felt his clothes fall loose against his body along with an unnerving weightlessness that threatened to uproot him from the ground.

Computer appendages and lab equipment rose from their resting places and drifted ghostlike about the room. Mulder's attention had turned to William, whom was slowly approaching the creatures, lost in transcendence and with a rage building inside him.

A deafening sound resonated and both Mulder and Skinner dropped to their knees clutching at their ears in a desperate attempt to escape it. The creatures recoiled in distress as the clear glass burst into a thousand pieces before them scattering across the room.

Curled on his side and through distorted sight, Skinner watched as shards of glass crunched underfoot with each of William's steps. He didn't see what was to follow but some part of him told him he was not meant to, no one was. He felt his head lull to the side as his vision blurred and he blacked out.

From the control room, one of the smoking man's henchmen called through the line to Krycek. He'd just watched in dismay the events unfolding in the monitoring bay.

"Sir…" He stumbled down the coms.

"What?!" Krycek sneered back, clearly with more important things to be worrying about.

There was gunfire erupting in the background of wherever his superiors were residing.

"Sir, there's something happening in sector nine. Something…. remarkable."

The henchman paused and replayed the crackled footage of William shattering the glass and fearlessly approaching the creatures. The screen fizzed more static and eventually cut out all together. The man rewound once more, focusing on the final still before the connection dropped.

"What the..." He breathed.

The monsters were turning on one another; as if their bodies had been taken over by some unknown force they began violently ripping each other to shreds. The boy screamed in a sort of crazed anger, stumbling forwards as all of the air escaped his lungs. Between flashes of transmission, the suspended equipment fell abruptly to the floor and the boy wobbled on his feet.

The henchman saved the file and gulped as he quickly realized he could be killed for what he now knew.

….

Five Years Ago

He'd been counting the days since she'd left him. Usually so haphazard with his cell, he now kept in glued to him at all times praying for a call, even a message from his beloved Scully. He'd made a huge mistake, an irreversible one. He'd been such an asshole and it had cost him their entire life together.

So now, he lived each day just getting by, easing himself into the tedious routine of a single man who'd accepted retirement far sooner than he were mentally prepared for. The lack of social interaction concerned him, but what bothered him greater was the fact that he was more comfortable around the dead than the living. More accepting of the ghosts that haunted him every night then the women he'd made small talk with at the cash desk of the grocery store. The line between reality and the dream world was ever fading.

It wasn't uncommon to have the dead return to him during his dreams, he felt it a product of guilt for the many lives lost along the way. The gunmen in particular would appear regularly before him. They'd never speak a word but somehow he'd feel involved in the scene, be it an evening of hacking or Chinese take out and a heated game of dungeons and dragons. The extracts would pan out and he'd enjoy them for what they were, hopeful memories.

This time was different. He awoke sprawled on the coach; it was where he found himself most nights now having lapsed back into his usual sleeping habits. He couldn't bare the thought of waking up in that big empty bed feeling in the dark for her small frame that were no longer there.

A figure stood over him. His stunted reflexes had him reaching wildly for his weapon only to fall in a heap on the floor. He fumbled to his feet ready to fight the intruder.

"Fox" A voice spoke.

It was somehow familiar.

"Who are you?" He asked into the darkness.

He already knew who it was, it was impossible but it was happening.

"Fox, it's your father."

Mulder slumped back into the armchair, trying to remember if he'd caved earlier and taken a handful of drugs from the bathroom cabinet.

"You're dead," He mumbled, questioning his sanity, and not for the first time, "You're not real. I'm hallucinating again."

"Believe what you want to believe." His father shrugged. His hands in his pockets as though there were nothing unusual about the situation.

Mulder rubbed his bleary eyes and sprawled back on the coach covering his face with his arm. If he could drift back to sleep he wouldn't have to deal with his malfunctioning mind.

"Fox, I'm here with a message…"

"Fuck off."

He felt a sharp pinch on his ear as though someone was squeezing down hard.

"Ouch! Son of a…?!"

"You've stopped looking haven't you?" His father scorned.

"Looking for what?"

"Samantha."

It wasn't enough that he'd dedicated his life's work to finding her, but now after finally making peace, finally finding closure, the man he'd once called a father was dragging up the past.

"My sister is dead." He clarified through gritted teeth, "…And so are _you_."

He rose from the coach, making his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water and doing his best to ignore the ghostly figure before him.

He flicked the tap and watched the water run for a few seconds before holding the glass beneath it, vaguely acknowledging the figure leaning in the doorframe.

"Trust Samantha. There will come a time in the future when you will meet again. You must trust her, please."

Mulder finished his gulp of water, placed the glass on the side and turned around to warn the man to leave him alone but to his surprise he was met with an empty room. His father had vanished, nowhere to be seen and never to be met with again.


	8. Chapter 8

The uniformed men were closing in and surrounding them. They filtered in through the blown apart hatch, hesitantly with weapons aimed and ready to kill should anyone try anything stupid. All eyes fell on William, the innocent boy who'd destroyed a small army of monsters not a minute ago. He knelt on the soaked ground, breathless with exhaustion.

The creature's blood crawled its way through the murky waters, avoiding both William and Scully like the plague and making a beeline for Skinner, who shuffled back, splashing water as he went. The guards hooked him out of reach before the black oil could infect another.

Wordlessly they gathered the remaining intruders, holding guns at their heads in warning. No one dared touch the boy though; he was too valuable an asset. The cigarette man emerged from the rear doors, releasing the hatch with ease.

"My goodness…" He spoke softly, admiring the massacre with content, "…You don't disappoint, my boy."

He turned over a dismembered creature with the edge of his dress shoe, the black oil cowering from him as he went.

"Extraordinary." He praised, a cigarette balanced in his lips.

He bent down until he was face to face with William and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"I think it's time for you two to meet."

They were lead downstairs and a dread built inside of William; he knew all too well what was about to come.

The smoking man ordered his men to release Mulder and Scully, who stood in the cryogenics room trying to work out what was going on.

"What is this?" Mulder scowled, "Why are we here?"

"You'll know soon enough." The man assured.

He turned to the container that held Samantha, though it was hard to distinguish behind the thin haze of icy condensation that swirled around each individual cylinder.

The smoking man turned to William, "Choose, either your father or your mother."

William shook his head, "I refuse to play this game."

"As you wish," He shrugged and directed his gun at Scully's head, "My dear, if you'd be so kindest to follow me."

"You bastard." She sneered and reluctantly obliged to the man's wishes.

"Okay, William, it's time, bring her back" He pressed the gun to Scully's temple, "…In case you should need an incentive."

"I can't do this, I don't know how!"

"Then you'd best learn quick or your mother will pay for your defiance."

"Please!" Will cried.

Without warning the gun fired and his mother screamed in pain, clutching her shoulder. Mulder caught her as she went down, immediately applying pressure to the bullet wound. She fought back tears as blood pooled around them both.

Mulder swore loudly. He looked about ready to throttle the old man until his sight fell on the chamber and the little girl frozen in time.

"Samantha…" He breathed in disbelief.

Mulder tried to fight but was pinned down by an invisible force.

"Let's try this again." The old man cricked his neck, quickly losing patience, "You have three seconds to bring her back or both your parents will have a bullet between their eyes."

Will turned to the cylinder and placed his palms flat on the shimmering ice trying to conjure up whatever it was he'd done the last time.

"One."

He closed his eyes trying to focus.

"You son of a bitch, what have you done to her?!" Mulder cried in the background.

The smoking man ignored him, "Two."

William felt himself start to shake uncontrollably. His hands burned holes through the ice at an alarming rate as he through all of his energy into finding life.

"Three."

The gun fired and everything turned dark as he felt himself fall heavy onto a hard surface. Will squinted his eyes against the night's sky; they were outside, lying in the middle of a road.

He rolled over, pulling himself onto his hands and knees and rubbed his head in confusion. Beside him another stirred.

"Dad?" He spoke when his father dragged himself up beside him, "Where's Mom? What happened?"

Mulder studied their surroundings in puzzlement.

"Where are we?" Will brushed himself off looking up and down the street-lit housing estate.

"I'm not sure."

The smoking man and the Alcor complex had vanished out of existence.

"I don't recognise this place." Will offered his father a hand up which he gratefully accepted.

Mulder focused his attention on a house across the street, "I do." He brushed his fingers through his hair and exhaled deeply, "I grew up here… Although, they demolished it in ninety nine to make room for an old folks home."

It was then that William noticed the cars parked outside on the road. The few that he could see looked old in design, like perfectly restored classics from the seventies. Something told him they were part of no private collection.

"Is this real?" Will asked, searching for some sort of explanation.

"I don't know…"

A figure approached them and both William and Mulder jumped. The little girl lit up in the glow of the streetlights. Ghostly white stood a fourteen-year-old Samantha smiling softly before them.

"Fox" She finally spoke, waiting for her brother to respond.

"This isn't happening, is it?" He asked in uncertainty.

She smiled and made to hug him. For a moment he didn't react but then seemed to melt into her embrace.

"I can feel you." He mumbled into her hold, "I can smell you." His eyes closed as he hugged her tighter, finally realising, "This is real."

She led them towards the house, Mulder's childhood home. William waited for signs that they were dreaming, anything that indicated they'd wake up and find it a delusion. The night air was cool with a chill in the delicate breeze that whistled around them. As they stood outside the home the flicker of a television set cast shadows on the drapes and the muffled voices of two children arguing could be heard behind the walls.

"What is this place? Why are we here?" William asked.

"This is where it all starts." Samantha began, "This night is what sets the course of the future."

"You get abducted. Taken by the syndicate in a trade of for an alien foetus, so that the shadow government can start the project." Mulder interrupted as he recited from his memories, "We're playing Stratego." He smiled as he listed to the children bickering inside.

Mulder stepped into the shrubbery beneath the window and peered in to watch the children playing. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Samantha explaining something to William on the porch. He didn't care. He wanted to witness the final moments of childhood innocence before it was so cruelly ripped from them both.

The house began to shake, and the children inside startled. The pieces of board game tumbled across the floor and the television screamed static.

"Fox!" The girl inside called fearfully to her older brother.

Mulder flustered and tripped backwards into the hedgerows as his eyes darted around for the government thugs. He'd replayed this moment over and over again for years following his sister's abduction. He refused to let it happen again, this time he would save her.

"We've got to get her out of there before they come!" Mulder scrambled to his feet only to be met by Samantha. She held him back, willing him to trust her.

Together they watched as William stood on the porch and creaked the front door open. He heisted momentarily before closing his eyes, raising his hands and ascending the small girl out of the room, easing her lifelessly onto the lawn before them.

"Is she-?" Mulder began.

"No, she's fine. You both are." Samantha assured.

William wobbled on his feet. He wasn't sure how he was controlling his newfound abilities but whatever he was doing seemed to work.

He watched as his father gently brushed the little girl's hair out of her face and it suddenly became clear. Mulder had dedicated his life to finding his sister, his drive for the truth, his devotion to helping others, his loyalties to his partner and lover, had all derived from this very moment in which a brother lost his sister and in doing so gained a campaign.

"We have to move her, take her somewhere safe before _they_ come." Mulder thought out loud.

"Fox, I brought you here so that you can understand, so that you can finally find peace."

"By letting you go again? If I do nothing they'll take you." Mulder shook his head, "…Sam, you'll live a life of suffering and certain death. I have the chance to change that now, to save you."

She touched his hand reassuringly, trying to will him to understand.

"So, this was fated to happen, all of this. Free will doesn't exist…" He continued.

"Of course it does, but some things have their courses set. If you save me tonight they'll still find me, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week but I cannot escape them forever."

William empathised with the girl, far wiser than he ever was at that tender age, and with the weight of the world on her shoulders. He didn't know exactly what was set to happen to her, but he knew that whatever she'd been through was beyond anything he could ever understand.

Mulder searched for an alternative, a way of fixing things so that they could play happy families, lead a life of normality rather than a destiny of hurt and turmoil.

"You've paid your dues, Fox, and I shall pay mine."

They embraced, brother and sister reunited in time. Mulder dwarfed her in stature and it was a bittersweet reminder that she was a child condemned to never grow up.

"I've spent my life searching for you. Please don't leave me again." He whispered.

"I never left you. I never will." She gave him one final hug, then dropped to the little girl resting soundly on the grass. She reached out and touched her skin and in an instant seemed to fall out of existence, rapidly dematerialising.

Mulder bent down and kissed her gently on her forehead, "Goodbye, Sam."

William stepped inside the house; he hadn't meant to cause so much damage. Fragments of glass shattered beneath his feet as he stepped across the room. A boy aged twelve, if that lay on his side with a gun on the floor beside him just out of reach. His shaggy hair was very similar to his fathers and he sported a baseball jersey. Some forty years separated them but it was undoubtably Mulder.

His father stepped through the doorframe after him. Outside bright lights shone and a vast rumbling set off all the car alarms.

"They're here." Mulder said bluntly.

The boy stirred at their feet. William noticed his father's outline begin to fade and then his own hands turning transparent. He didn't dare consider what would happen to them. It could likely be their transition into the afterlife, no going back.

"Dad." Will's voice broke, "Are we dying?"

"No, we're not dying," Mulder comforted, "Don't be afraid."

The young boy squinted his eyes.

"Don't be afraid," Mulder repeated, "No harm will come to her." He was lying to his younger self as tears welled in his eyes.

Will felt himself go weak; his legs gave way as he fell to the ground alongside his father. The glow outside grew stronger and steps approached the front door. The last thing he remembered were the lights fading, his eyes closing and the sound of his fathers voice assuring himself that she'd be returned to him some day.


End file.
